The Sunday herald., 1887-01-09
OUR NEW YORK LETTER.
Costly Dtuncr-Thc pnrdoned limo.
ccut-Gcn. sherman aud Gen. Logan
Tom Murphy ana Roscoe Conkifpg
Don't speak as They Pass py-Dcath's
pSrts-Theetres and Hats.
lspeelal Correspondence ]

YORK was eaten mere on New Years night. | say
probably but II is safe to say that 1t was absolutely
the nearest approach to feast OF Lucul!us that
gourmauds in this city enjoyed for the cuisine
was prepared by the chez OF what must now he re-
earled as the finest restaurant In America, and the
wines came from the Oldest cellar In New YORK
city. The chez was that Of the Hoffman House; the
private cellar that OF Mr.. Herman oelrichs. The
company numbered Just thirteen, including the
| host butthe guests were not In any individual IN
stance members OF the famous Thirteen cub
| That Ia essentially a Democratic club; this dinner
was attended solely by arlstocrats OF the first water
OF the food do not intend to speak further than
have In mentioning where and by whom 1t was pre-
pared which Ia all that II nece ssary to to those
at least who have ever dlned at the Hoffman House
In its latter days OF oriental luxury. Bat OF the
wines supplied by Mr.. oerichs there was MADEIRA
which his grandfather imported to this country In
1917, and there was dlsp aged to the company copy
OF the invoice on which the merchant shipping II
had written that the wine was then very old. but he
did NOT Know Its precise age IL was probably older
than the nation Mr. Oelrlchs poured out glass OF
1t at the opening OF the dinner and srewed 1t about
tue room as he would glass OF cologne, and the
aroma perfumed the apartment for the rest OF the
evening, the smell of none OF the other stronger
drinks destroying the perfumIng effects. One Of the
brokers, with financial and arithmetical turn Of
mind, suggested that the interest alone on the pur.
chase OF caskof such wine must have amounted
to large sum by this time. $50 very large" ex.
claimed the witty John X. Fellows, SELLING q bot.
tie and filling bis glass more "that l. for one,
am determined TO stop the interest on my bottle
There was destroyed, in the most reckless, barbaric
and glu'tonish style conceivable, large number OF
bottles of"Blue Seal Johannisberger," which orlgi
naNy cost grdnd-pere Oelrichs twenty dollars
bottle. The champagnes and other wines, usually
regarded as the most costly were cheap In compari.
son with the Madeira and Johannsberger, but they
were all rare Wines AMI the final ponies OF brandy
were Oiled from bottles at least nfty years old /
do not vouch for all tell here In illustration OF the
luxuriousness of the lie which some people In New
York are leading. i was not there that New Years
night. On the contrary, number OF us, including
reporters OF the World, Tribune Herald, sun, and
Times, landed In New York about the time the din.
ner began, accompanied by the two pardoned prIs-
oners, Fontand Poole, OF whom spoke in my last
letter, and all OF us, except the ex prisoners went
to the Astor House and INDUCED in modest beers
But as for enjoyment, fancy we "g,t there Just
the same" as the Jolly thirteen at the Hoffman
House.
fancy there may be some persons Interested In
knowing OF the fate of the two pardonei and inno-
cent men Of whom have written. 1t Ia impossible
to describe the amazement of these two men on
landing from Sing Sing at the Grand Central Depot
from which they had departed for prison ten years
ago. The part OF the building In which they landed
was entirely new. They could not locate themselves
The electric lights dazed and blinded them. They
had seen the ncandescent lights at the prison. but
no arc lights such as illuminate the streets and big
| buildings here. The elevated roads were entirely
new to them, and though they had heard of them,
they mad no Idea OF the immensity Of the structures
One Of them, being asked where he was go,ng said
| he thought he would walk down to the house Of
| Father Thomas j. Ducey, OF st. Leos Church. and
| see the improvements as he walked along. When
he got TO the church he could not recognize where
the Father lived, for his Old house adjoining was
gone and finer residence had taken its place. He
went Instead to the house Of another friend who had
aided In securing his release. He says he slept not
wink that night or the next on Monday both the
| released prisoners went to work-Poole at his old
business OF opening oysters, at which he eau make
| $50 week, and Font at his Old trade of making
| type with the friend who for all the years of the
| Boys Imprisonment had been giving his mother
work, until she died OF broken heart at the long de-
| lay In securing her sons release. Accounts were
published In all the Sunday papers of the release Of
these men, in some of which was mentioned as
having been active In exposing the frauds by which
| they were convicted; and the next morning after
| these puocations-let II be said to the credit Of
numanty-l found in my etterboX twenty three
offers from merchants and others OF situations for
one or the other of these men, and only one of these
was from saloon keeper, who thought the boys
would draw custom to his place. And at this writ
! Ing have thirty Offers n alone from dime mu
scum manager.
confess to good deal of surprise that the papers
Of the country have been slow to resent The hasy
effort Of Gen. w. T. Sherman TO take advantage OF
| the silence in death Of Gen. John A. Logan to at
tempt to justify himself for his treatment of Logan
| The letters he quotes do not by any means Justify
him. they rather prove that he was unjust to Logan
| aud partial to much less able men solely because
| they were West Pointers and not volunteers, as
Logan was. The letters, as now put forth by Sher-
| man, form another of his mlny glarlng efforts to
pervert history. Somebody has said that olcla re-
ports are the grossest of lles-or something OF tina,
sort. Sherman is an old offender In this way of per
vertng history, and should judge, from this recent
attempt TO make history to suit himself that he had
lost some OF his cunning In his old age. Nobody Of
| common sense can read his communication to Logan
and Logan's reply without reaching the conclu sion
| that Sherman practically proves his injustice to
Logan. lie always did pervert facts in writing his.
| tory, whether In the shape Of oficlal reports or
memoirs His Justification, In the form OF mild
criticism, OF McPherson's glaring fault at Resacca,
| In falling back TO inrenchments when he should
have gone forward, as Logan besought him, almost
with tears in his eyes, aud certainly with contemp,
on his face and rage In his heart, shows how ready
sherman was 10 conceal blunders OF his favorltes or
himself. McPhersons only excuse for his hesita-
| tion at that critical moment of the campaign was
that he had N obey literally order Of Sherman to
be cautious. MCPHERSON was surprised In the battle
before Atlanta In which, happily for his corps, he
was killed, and Logan saved 1t from and disper.
sion. Mcpherson never had done anything before
his death, and only the fact OF his death on the field
saved him from being forgotten In history And
| Logan, who at that battle certainly won
| promotion, was set aside In favor of Gen
Howard, who had accomplished nothing previously
except defeat at Charlottesville, and never did
anything afterward that / ever heard of, except
| misrnanage negro college or bank and say his
| prayers In public as often as possible. Gen.. Sher.
man also tries TO justify himself by saying that sold
| Pop" Thomas, who never had an nnkind or jealous
feeling In his life, shared his dlsrust of volunteer
| generals. That's lioel on Thomas. Sherman mad
better try TO justify himself for claiming to have
planned the "March to the Sea-" after Cen Thomas
mad suggested 1t to him In most Of It's details, except
| that Thomas proposed to make the march with one
| corps while Sherman defended Tennessee with the
other two corps. But sherman finally gave Thomas
one corps TO fght Hood In Tennessee, while he tool
two corps and the cavalry To 90 on the picnic the
II wasthls disposition to write history to suit him
self that was at the bottom OF SherInaBs animoslty
to army correspondents like Whilelaw Reid, IIeDry
Willard, Tom Knox, Albert Richardson De Keim
Junlus Brown, and myself He tried to expe. all the
war correspondents for no other than that ht
proposed to write his own glory. lie could not beai
criticism, Travelled In Sherman's Department IN
1864 on pass from Gen. Grant, which Sherman
tried TO rescind and afterward TO ignore. spoke tC
him about II one afternoon at Gen. Rousseau . head
quarters, and argued the right Of newspapers OF i'm
portance 10 haye discreet and responsible CORE
spondenis with tue Array, whereupon Sherman said
that he would have none with his army, and added
that while commanding the Army OF the Tennessee
he had drafted number OF war correspondents aud
had formed battery OF them. I was astounded
that had never before heard Of the fate OF 30 many
OF my comrades, and asked Sherman the name OF
the battery. lie refused to give 1t, urged II as In
teresting news az yet not made pu1llc, but I could
get no reply. The truth Ia he never had any such
battery OF drafted army correspondents. lie wen
that night with Rousseau 10 dinner az the house o
the wldow Of s-PGsiBlster General Brown, neal
Nashville, ana on the way told housseau thai
might remain with tie army a. iIsnd Of hii
tRousseanB) just before the battle Of Resacca re
celyed, al Gen. Ihomass quarters, where was lly
Ing, despatch announcing That had been DRAFTED
In Kentucky. The telegram had Grsi reached sher
mans hands, ana lie mad actually opened and read IL
An aid brought u to me, with Sherman explanation
that the lnLlgls Of MS pape and mine were so muct
alike thaI he had made IHIsts.e ! t.d not receive
, the explanation yery graclOusly suppose the ait
80 Informed sherman, for he told Gen Thomas tha
| es had been drafted he might as well put me IL